Kaliin Union

In the Union's prosperity, the silent cries of the enslaved become the currency of power.

Also known simply as The Slaver Cities, the Kaliin Union is an alliance and coalition between four city-states settled along the northwestern coast of Brandjorden. Albeit having some differences in culture, laws and power, they share one exclusive characteristic, the strong, widespread practice of slavery.

Ruled independantly by Kings, Nobles and Corsairs, the slaver cities, although seen with hostility by the manniskarians, are the bridge between the extreme south and the Wintermar, the central ocean of Mellanvärlden. Pirates and mercenaries raid the coast and sometimes even the inland of Manniskar, kidnapping its people and taking them back to the Union, where they're sold like cattle to keep the economy of their cities turning. Entire armies of slaves are created, while others raise them to be personal servants or even sexual thralls.

Despite their horrible practices and laws, the Slaver Cities are rarely attacked or targeted by the Manniskarian nations, who are not only too busy worrying of their own territory being ravaged by monsters, but also are too far to be able to pose a threat to the brandjordians. And so, despite the hostile relationship, the manniskarians turn a blind eye, while also importing countless products from the Peninsula of Chains, yet always through an intermediate, usually Alluabid or the Preomonan cities.

Zirbah

Closer to the East, the city of Zirbah uses their slaves as a workforce for artisanry, mining, farming and other menial jobs, while the ruling classes, almost solely composed of nobles who own thousands of slaves, corsair orders and trading companies. Moreover, Zirbah is known around the world for one particular law that has been in motion in the city for centuries, called simply the Code of Zirbah, which states a series of policies that culminate to the same end: Money represents Power. The law states that nearly every crime, including theft, murder and fraud to be forgiven if a sufficient sum of gold is paid to the Council, a group of powerful aristocrats, lords and merchants that rule the city as an oligarchy. One of the few crimes that isn't forgivable is treason against the Council, a crime that is punished by crucification. Even more shocking is the fact that such crosses are always placed along the walls and coast surrounding Zirbah, and any traveller arriving in the city for the first time is taken aback at the sight of hundreds of crosses perfectly lined up, many with dry, dessicated corpses still nailed to them.

Al Harrah

The second slaver city towards the west, fabled for raising armies out of slaves and selling them as mercenaries, commonly called the Burned Men, an allusion to the fact that their armor is made, for the good part, of bronze, with a scarce amount of padding beneath. The consequence of this is that such soldiers, already in their youth, bear terrible burns due to long periods of watch beneath the sun. Some would claim such mistreatment would result in frequent revolts, but the Al Harrans came up with a solution, centuries in the past. The armies are all divided in groups of 500 men, led by a single Catapratch, who is also a slave, yet who receives a much better treatment. As such officers assume their ranks, they are told that, should they become responsible for stopping or clashing any sort of revolt, they are granted freedom and take position upon the upper classes of Al Harrah. Yet, simultaneously, the city is also the one with the biggest military force amongst the Union, composed of free soldiers that, when not participating in military campaigns, are responsible for training the slaver armies and assuring their discipline and obedience, in which crude and terrible methods of "education" are employed. The city is a monarchy, ruled by a King, Hamal Nassif, of the Nassif Sulthanate.

Gelehisar

Unlike the previous two cities, Gelehisar is much less truculent with their slaves, yet no less terrible. The slaver city employs the shackled as entertainers, battle thralls in big coliseums, sexual servants and other domestic jobs, while the remainder jobs of the city are occupied by its citizens. These get to enjoy grand spectacles, being allowed to buy personal slaves, who are treated as property rather than people, essentially meaning any owner of a slave is free to do with his meat (how the servants are called) anything he desires. Such a practice has led Gelehisar to be quite infamous regarding rumors of the extent masters will go as to their meat. The city is ruled, like Zirbah, by a small number of aristrocrats, who live in oppulent palaces, drowning in pleasure and hedonism.

Khash

In Khash slaves occupy almost solely the most basic of jobs, such as cleaning, farming, mining, etc. The city is ruled by exclusively by

Merus, an ethnic group of Brandjordians who bear lighter skin and facial features, while the vast majority of slaves are either Itus or foreigners from Manniskar, in which it is prohibited to keep a Kaliin or Meru as slave. And so, because of such racist practice, the slaves are seen as equals with animals, and thus holds no rights whatsoever. Khash is also a strong center of influence for the Cult of the Sun, a rather extreme religion that has arisen from the city of Chrysus, further to the south. This helps reinforce their racist practice, as their faith backs the right to enslave the unfaithful and particularly, the foreigners. Khash holds the second largest port of Brandjorden, behind Alluabid, and is seen as a headquarters for Corsairs and Pirates, who have a strong presence in the upper classes. The city is ruled by a King, Sattar Parastui, who holds a history of deals with countless pirate captains.